Non title fight in 1989. Both men had being kod by Tyson the previous year, and not fought since. Despite it being a non title fight and both men seen as past it, the fight is a sell out. 10 rounds to settle the score, ref is Richard Steele. Who wins?
Probably Holmes. Spinks was shot. Bad knees and his heart was into it anymore. Larry on the hand, he loved to compete and went on to have a pretty good 2nd career with good performances against Holyfield and Oliver McCall and of course a big win over Ray Mercer.
I think Holme s stops him this time, I think he'd try to get in to shape for this one. And Spinks maybe still not recovered mentally from that Tyson mauling. He'd try to be foxy against Holmes to begin but I don't see him being as successful this time. Holmes gets revenge at last and stops him before the 8th.
I think a third time Holmes would win, but I'm going off topic. It is not clear to me why Holmes only had a Tyson fight after the Spinks 2 fight in 5 years. Holmes definitely could have fought successfully much more often, as evidenced by the fight with Mercer. IMO the entire boxing world lost because I think Holmes in 1986 - 1990 would have been HW Top 10, or even Top 5.
He was really soured after losing the second decision - he felt (probably wrongly, for many) he’d gotten a bad decision the first time, but deserved better in the rematch (he did); he’d been laboring under Ali’s shadow for the beginning of his career, then derided after that perception faded. He was tired of a game he felt he couldn’t win, so stepped back. And like Foreman, his comeback came at a point where his qualities as a great boxer could be appreciated for what they were. Agree, it’s too bad - I don’t think he had any chance against Tyson, who was a force of nature in those years, but had a good shot at virtually anyone else in the division.
That’s really the crux of the whole issue. Especially Spinks having no desire to box anymore. If he had a yearning to get back into it and got into serious shape he might have beaten Holmes in 1989 but it wasn’t going to happen.
